Provo-based Vivint to be acquired by Blackstone in $2 billion transaction

Vivint Inc., the Provo-based solar, security and home automation company, will be acquired by global investment firm Blackstone Group LP, valuing the company around $2 billion and making it one of the biggest deals in Utah history.

“Having Blackstone behind us supercharges our ability to continue growing the company and the technology and services we will roll out over the next few years” including international expansion, home health care and solar, Todd Pedersen, chief executive officer of Vivint, said in a telephone interview.

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Pedersen, who owns more than 25 percent, will be selling half of his share in Vivint to Blackstone.

Though the company is being acquired, Vivint’s management team and operations will stay in Utah, Pedersen said.

Vivint, which employs about 7,000 people, has been working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup to find a buyer since earlier this month. The company plans to add another 1,200 to 1,500 employees by the end of 2013, Pedersen said.

The company, formerly known as APX Alarm Security Solutions, is expanding into home automation, which allows residents to turn off appliances and monitor energy costs remotely among other services.

The company earns about $360 million a year. Vivint also added 170,000 new customers in 2011.

"We're not trying to be that system that is $1 million in up front costs; we're trying to sell to every American," Pedersen previously told the Deseret News at his Provo headquarters. "The objective is simplifying life, increasing energy efficiency and protecting families."

Blackstone, the investment firm purchasing Vivint, has holdings in companies such as Leica, The Weather Channel, Hilton Worldwide and Apria Healthcare.

The transaction between Blackstone and Vivint will be in cash and not stock, Pedersen said.

“I asked for it to be paid in gold,” Pedersen, who plans to buy a new Dodge truck, said. “But they will not pay me in gold. They told me.”